Tag: SE 5a Scout

A Knight’s Tale (7: World War I)

From my brother, Chris’s, research, I have learned that my potential great uncle, Fred Evans, brother of great uncle John (Jack Riskit) and Grandma Hunter, née Evans, was killed on the Somme in 1916. A first class cricketer and footballer, Fred was expected to play cricket for Lancashire until the war put a stop to it. From his home in Sydney, a member of the 53rd Bn., Australian Infantry, he set out for France on 8th March, 1916, and was, according to a comrade, George Stone, one of the first over the parapet and shot “about half-way across to” the German line, on 19th July. He has no known grave and is commemorated at V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles.

My Grandparents, John Francis Cecil (Jack) Knight, wearing Army uniform in 1917; and George Henry Hunter, clad in Merchant Navy uniform, were both fortunate enough to – at least physically – to have survived WWI, the first time the world went mad.

All I know about Jack’s war service is that he taught airmen to fly. His qualification for this was

The Norwood School for the Sons of Gentlemen, which was a family run business of the Knights for several generations, although not always in West Norwood.  He may not have known how to fly, but he did know how to teach. Male members ran the school, whilst the women became governesses when they served all over Europe. Central to the photograph, probably taken in 1913, are my paternal grandparents Beatrice and Jack (John Francis Cecil) Knight.

The woman on the far left we knew in later years as Auntie Evelyn.  It was her sister, Mabel, who bequeathed our father 18 Bernard Gardens. When the family moved into this large house in Wimbledon, among Mabel’s effects were all the gramophone records of Julie Andrews.  Mabel had no record player, but had clearly taken pride in her former charge. The colourful careers of our three great aunts will feature further on in the story.

Here, our late brother, Chris, on a visit to Tangmere, occupies a replica of the SE 5a Scout from 1918, which our grandfather taught airmen to fly. From the museum web page we read:

‘SE5A COCKPIT REPLICA

The Royal Aircraft Factory SE 5a scout was one of the most successful British fighter aircraft of the First World War and was one of the first aircraft to fly from the newly created RAF Tangmere in 1918 when No 92 Squadron trained here before leaving for the Western Front. The Museum’s replica was built to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War and constructed by a small team drawn from our engineering staff using original drawings and employing the same techniques that were used for the original aircraft’.

Jack, after 1914, was never to work in the school again.  Returning from the First World War he no longer had the heart to work inside or in education, and bought a removal firm.

Grandpa Hunter was a land based engineer, almost certainly using his skills as a turner. He served on Victory 2, a training depot for RN divisions at Crystal Palace.

She Saw The R100

Shelley made a brief visit this morning, and Mum, Elizabeth and Jacqueline came for lunch and spent the afternoon with us, largely sharing memories. After an exchange of presents, Jackie provided her excellent watercress soup, samosas, and a vast array of cooked meats and salad. I would like to say this was accompanied by a bottle of Three Choirs Wickham dry white wine that Elizabeth had brought and placed in the fridge. Unfortunately I forgot about it, so we enjoyed it later in the day.
Chris in plane 2014
Elizabeth and I scanned a print of a photograph of Chris taken earlier in the year,so that she can send Frances an enlargement. Hopefully we then e-mailed it to her at home where she will make the print. Apart from the poignancy of this being one of the last images of our brother, the cockpit in which he is sitting has significance in family history. On a visit to Tangmere Aircraft Museum, Chris occupies a replica of the SE 5a Scout from 1918. During the latter part of The Great War, our paternal grandfather, John Francis Cecil Knight, trained airmen to fly these planes. From the museum web page we read:
‘SE5A COCKPIT REPLICA
The Royal Aircraft Factory SE 5a scout was one of the most successful British fighter aircraft of the First World War and was one of the first aircraft to fly from the newly created RAF Tangmere in 1918 when No 92 Squadron trained here before leaving for the Western Front. The Museum’s replica was built to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War and constructed by a small team drawn from our engineering staff using original drawings and employing the same techniques that were used for the original aircraft’.
air plane
The discussion about the SE 5a Scout led Mum to recount her experience of a beautifully sunny day on 27th May 1930. There had been great disappointment in Manchester on the rainswept 16th December 1929, when the huge airship the R101 was expected to fly above the city. In fact the R101 missed Manchester, but would not have been visible anyway in those weather conditions.
220px-Airship_TorontoSeven year old Jean Hunter was, six months later, on that May day, lined up with the rest of the schoolchildren in the playground of the Jewish Board school in Waterloo Road. Mum attended this school because the prison officers’ quarters, to which her father was entitled, was nearby. There was much excitement and dazzling of juvenile eyes peering into the skies. No sound came from above. Mum thinks that had there been any noise they would have been scared.
Suddenly, slowly, silently, a huge sausage shaped balloon glided overhead. This was not the R101, but its sister ship the R100.  The Manchester Evening Mail described the transport thus: ‘Imagine an object with an enormous length equal to that of two football pitches, shaped like a massively long and cigar-shaped dart; cruising at almost roof-top height, with its silvery outer-skin gleaming in the May mid-day sun, and moving so slowly it seemed to hover: Well! I put it to you such a sight would stop traffic even now; and to an age hardly used to air-flight, it must have appeared awesome’.
Three days after little Jean’s eighth birthday on 2nd October 1930, the R101, on its maiden passenger flight crashed in France and burst into flames. This effectively ended the British air industry’s airship adventure, and the R100, that had so awed Manchester’s thousands, was dismantled in its shed at Cardington in November 1931 and eventually sold as scrap for £450.